Zero sum love
by Timeandvlove
Summary: Harry loves Ginny and Cho. Ron loves Hermione and Lavender. One day while drinking by the Pond they come to a realization- they could be a lot happier if they could both love more than one person. They seek to spread this love to the rest of the world.
1. C1: Invisible dragons

Based on a story prompt in /r/rational what I think would happen if Harry tried to rationally guide his friends out of their imposed cultural values and into happier and more optimal polyamorous relationships.

If you have any suggested pairings or advice for how he should handle this situation feel free to say so in reviews.

* * *

The Circle. Day 0.

Harry flicked his wrist, sending the rock skipping across the lake, the setting sun sending a dim red glow over the water that was beautiful to the eye and hand. He then picked up his half empty bottle of butterbeer, chugged down another mouthful, and spoke. "I just don't know what to do with Ginny and Cho. Two fine women, both after my heart. Who should I go for though? The red haired devil or the Asian goddess. What do you think Ron?"

Ron glared at him incredulously and tossed a rock at Harry. He dodged it and scuttled back away from the violent redhaired wizard who was the brother of Ginny.

"Hey! What was that for!"

"You know what."

"I was just kidding. You know it wouldn't matter anyway. I can only have one woman." Harry said in a sad tone.

Ron looked at Harry suspiciously for a few seconds then nodded and sat back.

"I guess I know what you mean though. Ginny and Cho both flirt with you. That's hard for a man. I trust you won't break my trust though. Maybe I'll say yes when she's older. She's still just a little girl, my sister. Maybe when she's thirty. "

Harry grinned. "Yeah yeah. How's romance in your end."

Ron pressed his hand to his head, fuzzing up his red hair. "This can't go out of The Circle." They had these meetings a lot, away from all the others. Their little circle where anything could be said. Harry wasn't going to betray Ron's trust.

Harry shook his head. "No man. Mages before babes." Ron nodded. "I have the same sort of issue you have. Lavender is really coming onto me a lot. She's seen me teaching and she likes it. She asks for me to guide her and to-" he dropped his voice down into a high pitched falsetto. "run your strong Weasley hands over my shoulders and guide me, I just can't get the motions" Ron returned his voice to normal. "I can read the signs. But Hermione... she's pretty fine too. What should I do?"

Harry sighed and flicked another stone over the lake. Halfway across a Merman jumped over the stone, sending a massive wave through the blue red water.

"You know what I wish for?"

"I know what I'm wishing for." Ron waved a little Chudley Cannon's flag. His favourite Quidditch team which never won.

"I'm sure they'll win next time." Harry lied, patting Ron's shoulder. "Anyway, what I wish is that we didn't have to choose."

Ron looked down at Harry's groin and quickly interrupted. "You running out of potency? Too tired to do anything? Because I know a potion..."

This time Harry was the one throwing a rock. Ron laughed and scrabbled backwards onto the wet dirt, battling the rock away with a backhanded slap.

Harry frowned at Ron, half a smile on his face. "Not cool, not cool at all." Ron flicked a muddy hand at Harry and spoke. "My revenge is complete, and my sister's honor is restored."

Harry sighed. "Yes, you are surely a role model to all Weasleys. Anyways." He glared at Ron. "I meant that I wish we could have both. Why choose when you can be with both? Everyone would be happier if they could just be with more people. No more need to choose."

Ron spoke slowly, as though he was speaking to a child. "Because that's wrong as you'd be cheating. Relationship 101 for you," He poked Harry, "don't do it with two."

Harry opened his hands. "Not if they both agreed. If all three of us agreed to it why say no to more love?"

Ron shook his head again. "It wouldn't work. Jealousy would stop it. People just aren't built for it. That's why it's wrong."

Harry spoke. "Jealousy is an emotion. You can overcome emotions. What if you really worked hard to make it work?"

Ron frowned. "It wouldn't work better if you worked harder. If you worked harder that'd just be more stress and that'd break it apart. It's just wrong, ok?"

Harry spoke again. "Maybe with more people you could handle stress better. You could all support each other."

Ron rubbed his hands together, fidgeting a lot "But what if you lost a person? Then the stress would be even worse. Plus handling more people is more stress."

Harry put his hands up. "Hold a second. You sound like you're just arguing because you can. Remember the book?"

Ron nodded. They'd found a mysterious book called the Sequences in the library. It had a lot of good advice on how to think better.

"Remember what he said about the invisible Dragon?" Harry continued, putting on a high pitched nasally tone of grandeur, crawling up to Ron and speaking in his ear. "Is there really an invisible dragon in your tower?"

Ron half heartedly pushed Harry away, embarrassment red on his face, and spoke, his voice slurring into a deep tone in his best impression of a stupid person.

"No of course not, I know because he's invisible and I can't see it."

Harry spoke, his voice even higher in tone "Then why can't I touch the invisible dragon?"

Ron sighed and spoke again, continuing to speak in the same tone. "Cause he's intangible durr." He spoke in his normal voice again "I guess I was just making up reasons against a three person relationship. Anything you said I'd have some quick answer to why my 'dragon' had to be real. But..."

Harry spoke. "Remember the truest strength of a rationalist."

Ron spoke. "Saying what makes you wrong and predicting what will happen, not what you believe." He sighed. "Ok, I predict that multiple relationships per person will lead to unhappiness, and if I am wrong it will lead to happiness."

Harry clapped his hand to Ron's. "Then let's do an experiment. You and me. We can do a controlled test with Dumbledore's army."

They were currently doing tutoring in defensive magics for a large group of students. With Dolores Umbridge, the ministry's attack dog, in command of the school they were not being taught any defensive magic by the school- the ministry feared wizards who could defend themselves.

Ron nodded. "So make everyone be in love with everyone? I guess we could dose the pumpkin juice with love potions. It'd make for an unforgettable session."

Harry shook his head, and, half a smile on his face, jerked away and made a symbol of the cross against Ron. Ron reared back and hissed at him, baring his fangs.

"I vant you to dvink my pvumkin juice." Ron said, doing his best impression of a vampire. Harry grinned at him and spoke again.

"No, no, no rapey times with pumpkin juice. I just want to present the option to people. How about if I go in front and try to get volunteers who have some sort of problem in their relationships, like us, and see if they want to open up a bit?"

Ron frowned and stroked his chin. "This sounds incredibly unethical." He shrugged and pulled Harry's hand to his chest and patted his heart twice. "The circle has spoken." Harry tapped his wand against Ron's, both of them glowing a gentle red and spoke. "The circle has spoken! Let's do it."

* * *

Day 1. Room of Requirement, DA meeting. 6pm.

The two of them stood in front of all the eager students who were awaiting advice and training from the experienced wizards.

Harry spoke, his cloak and robe billowing in the summoned wind, his wand sparking with magic. "Dark forces besiege us. Voldemort is risen, the pink spectre of the feline haunts Hogwarts. But we have found a way to stop it." Ron stepped forward, sparks of magic trailing off his wand as Harry stepped back and dropped his wand down to let Ron speak. "An ancient weapon and magic, used by the Spartans to make an unstoppable army." Harry stepped forward again and they pressed their wands to each other, simultaneously summoning a torrent of light and sparks, and both spoke simultaneously. "The magic of openness. Who is with us?"


	2. C2: The Halo Effect

Day 1, 8am, Prefect's toilets.

"I'm not sure I can do this." said Ron, his wand shaking as he pointed it at Harry's head.

"You have to. It's the only way." Harry grabbed Ron's arm. "Remember, this is what the Sequences told us to do. If we want to do science we have to do this."

Ron nodded, gulped and cast the charm to defrizz Harry's hair. The tangled bits of hair untwisted and got in place, the split ends grew back, and and Ron looked deeply uncomfortable.

"I seriously think the book was saying it was bad to try and get people to believe in you because you're sexy, not giving lessons on why to do it."

Harry shook his head. "Ron Ron, Ron of so little faith. It never said it was bad to try and look hot, just that you should evaluate them carefully. And we will. We, The Circle" Harry carefully pronounced the word with capital letters, "Will make sure that we don't conflate attractiveness with goodness. That is definitely something _we_ will do."

Ron sighed, nodded, and cast the next and final charm, gently remessing up Harry's hair in imitation of that of a celebrity they'd seen in some magazine they'd swiped from a girl in the Gryffindor common room. Apparently it was good to have your hair messed up a bit at the front, according to the talking image of a very attractive looking witch on page 22.

Ron looked Harry over carefully. "Ok, you're done. Bone extension charms done, you have two more inches." Taller meant more attractive and Harry was a little on the short side. "Your face is clean and a little tanned." The magazine had actually recommended bleaching charms for darker skinned women which was a bit messed up, but most of the men in there had had a little tan. "I have grown your beard into a more manly stubble." Clean shaven or long were bad according to the pictures. "And now it is your turn to do me. I felt weird and unmanly being your hair stylist. It's going to feel weirder having you do it but there is something I am looking forward to- you can start with the special modifications we talked about." Ron smiled broadly at him.

Harry shook his head and looked down. Then he looked up and pressed his hand to his ear. "What's that I hear? Sss sss ss. It sounds like a snake. I think I can understand it." Harry looked at Ron's midsection. He wasn't actually speaking parseltongue of course but looking there did make it easier for Ron to understand his meaning. "It's saying that 5 inches is a perfectly normal size for, er, feet." Ron stared at Harry calmly, his expression unwavering, like a parent waiting for a child to finish their silliness. "And that it read up on studies and said that women didn't even like massive ones. Sss sss ssssssss. Yes, the evidence was clear." He looked up at Ron hopefully. "Be reasonable."

Ron stroked his chin thoughtfully. "I know as a rationalist it is important to trust scientific studies. What did they say the optimum size was?"

"Most women don't even mind-"

Ron took on a harsher tone. "Harry-"

"Fine. It's a small effect, but some women prefer... feet two inches larger than average."

Ron opened his arms wide with a smug grin on his face.

"Then hit me. I trust your readings of the paper and as you say, we need every advantage we can get."

Harry sighed and pointed his wand. "Fine. Engorgio..."

* * *

Day 1. 6 pm, Room of Requirement, DA meeting.

"What's the magic of openness? I haven't read about it in any of my textbooks. Is it from the forbidden section or something?" Called out Hermione, at the front of the crowd, sweat dripping from her brow.

Harry smiled at her. He saw a few glance at her with hate- Cho, Colin, Parvati. He wasn't really sure why they suddenly hated Hermione, but, whatever. No one had much energy to challenge Hermione or him. He'd put them all through a very gruelling workout so they'd be tired and easy to convince and timed the session to interrupt their meals so they'd be hungry. He'd read that this was what a lot of leaders did.

"That's an excellent question. To answer let me go back a bit first. Remember Quirrel?"

Hermione nodded. "Voldemort's" A number of the members of Dumbledore's army flinched away from Hermione. "First attempt to return from the dead. Why, what's that got to with openness?"

Harry dramatically swished his cloak, sending out a swish of firey sparks with his wand. Hermione sighed and pressed her head to her hand and muttered something under her breathe, but everyone else seemed pretty engrossed. He saw a lot of eyes following his body too.

"I burnt him. I burnt and destroyed Voldemort. When I asked Dumbledore how, this is what he said. He told me that I killed him with love. My mother's love for me triggered his death. I've looked it up. There's a lot of magic that can be triggered with love- Ron's family's clock of sensing, marriage vows, soul bonds. To defeat Voldemort we need more love. Do we have enough love? Does anyone here have relationship problems? A sense that everything is just not right?"

He swung his eyes around the room.

"Don't be shy. Raise your hands if you do."

Quite a number did- Ginny, Lavender, Cho Chang, Neville, Colin, Dean- about a quarter of their group. Harry wanted someone who would really demonstrate how bad relationships could be, but didn't want to annoy Ron by questioning his sister and didn't think the others had had much loving. Cho it was. She had a pained look on her face. Marietta was clinging to her arm, consoling her, looking nervous and worried.

Cho looked amazing, despite her pain. Soft pale skin that looked radiant to touch glistening with sweat, perfectly done black hair that drifted in the weak breezes of the room, a finely shaped body that made him want to touch her and do far more.

"Cho, do you want to talk?"

"I... yes. I like you. And I lost Cedric. I feel really guilty. I don't know. And Marietta has been so nice. I'm not sure."

"It hurts, doesn't it."

She nodded.

"Do you want it to stop hurting?"

"I do. I'd do anything to be better."

"That's what a lot of us are bound to. Relationships that can break easily. And when the dark lord is on the prowl, slaying those who oppose him, those relationships are even more in danger." He needed another type of complaint, one of someone who probably hadn't been kissed at all for those who were more lonely. Someone who he was completely sure would be a virgin.

"Neville, what's up with you?"

Neville clearly didn't want to speak and mumbled something.

"I value your words and your opinion. You can speak."

Neville spoke again more clearly. "No one... really wants... me."

Hermione stepped forward- he'd made sure to train with her especially hard before so she'd be too tired to say much but she clearly had some energy left.

"You shouldn't make him say that. We do want him."

"Enough to love him."

"Well no but..." Hermione said. Neville looked even more hurt.

"Maybe you should stop bullying Neville, Hermione." She bit her lip, sighed, and stepped back. Not that saying no to romance with someone was bad, but, she'd fallen into that one herself.

Harry walked up to him and patted Neville arm. Perhaps he should seek to convince him of the benefits of testosterone replacement hormones- he'd never gone through puberty from the looks of it and would benefit from an extra push. He suspected Neville's is family's abuse had broken some gland in his brain somewhere that pumped out manliness.

"I am here to change that. The magic of openness solves all of these problems- what if, rather than feeling guilty at wanting more than one person we just accepted our desire for lots of people? Dated more than one person at once." He gestured at Cho, who looked quite excited- the mood of the croud had definitely risen. "You wouldn't have to feel guilty any more. You could accept every love." He gestured at Neville. "With more willing to love you'd be able to find someone to love you. Who is with me?" There was a weak cheer from a number of the people. He had trained them well in their time in Dumbledore's army "If you want to have all your relationship problems go away, come with me."

Neville and Colin and Dean and Ginny and Luna had joined him. They were fanatically loyal and would follow almost anything he did and had been very keen to get training with him. Cho had a hopeful and pained look on her face and had joined in soon after, Lavender and Marietta had joined in after that following the crowd, Justin too, Michael. Susan was about to join too now a lot of her friends were there to back her up.

About half the group was theirs. An excellent sample size for the experiment. Hermione stood back in shock, Terry Boot besides her, Angelina Johnson and her Quidditch group were standing back away, the Patil twins hadn't joined in, Zacharias was understandably a no. Ernest had hung back. Everyone who was fanatically supporting him had joined.

He would fix all of their problems. He would help those down on their luck like Neville, fix the broken of Cho and her dead boyfriend, and do it while having a lot of fun. Everything would be better. That was a duty of all scientists. To engineer happiness for all at any cost.

* * *

The Circle, day 0

Ron lay back by the pool, drinking more butterbeer,"Aren't you worried they'll just fall to the halo effect?" When someone had a great idea others would easily think that this one thing would solve all their problems. If I just follow this diet my mother will finally love me. If I just pray to god my money problems will go away. If I just vote for someone other than John Major I won't have such a crappy job. They'd obsessively throw their energy into it and see everything about it as good and everything about anyone who opposed them as bad till a crisis bust their bubble and threw their life into a tailspin.

Harry nodded. "It's always a worry. Sometimes I feel that we should spread this science thing, rather than keeping it all secretive. But how can we make the world a better place if everyone has a voice? You know how idiotic some of those people are. It's our duty as scienists to save the world, and we need a few advantages. As long as we don't fall to it, we should be fine. What's the worst that could happen?"

Ron stroked his chin thoughtfully. "Dumbledore's army mass murders each other in a fit of jealous rage. Or someone conjures up a nuclear bomb to wipe the slate clean of their shame. Or someone decides to use imperio on a nuclear sub to wipe out Hogwarts and starts world war 3. I think that's the worst that could happen, though don't quote me on it." Ron was really branching out well- he'd read a lot of muggle science books with Harry now and they had a lot of good ideas together of how to use it with magic. Still, his point was valid.

"Do you think we can manage, Ron? Do you think we can do it? To take this experiment to completion"

Ron nodded.

"We just have to look at the little things. Not focus on the big idea but try to make every little thing work. Be sceptical of all we do. Constant vigilance."

Harry nodded, and held out his bottle of butterbeer. "To great ideas."

Ron clicked his bottle to Harry's and spoke.

"I bet all great ideas in history started something like this. Two men just tossing out ideas. We can do it. To great ideas."


	3. C3: Mere Messiahs

Mere messiahs

Day 5. 3 am. Kyle of Lochalsh

Ron and Harry floated over the pharmacy, wands in hand with small glowing yellow lights on the end for guidance in the moonlight, ready in their quest to gather testosterone so more women would sleep with them.

Ron. "Couldn't we just, you know, talk to them? Tell them to be nicer to each other, sleep with a few people other than their close friends?"

Harry nodded. "We could. And we have. And we did. And I asked Lavender to just try making out with Justin, and she pecked him and kicked him in the balls and ran off."

The two of them floated down to the entrance. Harry suddenly grabbed Ron and yanked him up and away.

"Wait, they have a camera."

Sure enough, there was a small metal camera over the back door to the pharmacy. It swung back and forth while a small red light bleeped on the top.

Ron. "That's… a recording device you said? Like the sort you wanted to use with Cho for your games?"

Harry nodded. "And that will record us if we get too close, just as it would her. We'll have to disable it." He stuck his wand forward.

"Accio camera." The camera wiggled around for a bit, pulled by Harry's spell, but it was pretty securely bolted into the wall.

"Accio camera, accio camera, ACCIO CAMERA!" The camera did not accio.

Ron pulled up the sleeves of his robe and coughed.

"Let the professionals try. "

Harry growled, tossed his head back, and dismissively waved his hand at the camera. This was his spell. He'd practised it for months in the fourth year to beat that Horntail dragon and-

"Accio camera." The camera, and a good chunk of wires and wall behind it was instantly yanked out by Ron's spell, flying like a rock to hover near his wand. Shortly after there were a host of other cracks from afar as cameras from all parts of town to collide in a huge crash with the ever increasing pile of cameras around Ron's wand.

Ron grinned smugly. "No one will see us as we leave now. You're welcome."

Harry shook his head. Yes, it was a bit noisy but... Being pouty wasn't befitting of him. He took a deep breath.

"Thank you Ron."

Ron grinned, tossed the pile of cameras down to the ground with a thud, and the two of them landed by the entrance.

Harry unlocked the door with a spell, and the two of them walked in.

Ron spoke, quietly as they had discussed. "It seems a bit ignoble doing this. Muggle technology, inferior muggle technology. Testosterone."

Harry shrugged. "You saw how the guys acted compared to the girls. It's necessary. Plus weirdly potion shops don't want to sell love potions in bulk to students by mail for what is probably excellent reasons given the potential for abuse and Umbridge is making it generally hard to smuggle anything in. If Hermione would help us she could brew them but… do you remember Susan Bones?"

Ron nodded, remembering several days ago the events of their interview.

* * *

Day 2. 8.32 pm, DA, room of requirement.

"… and you'll hold me and finally you can let out your feelings about your family and we can talk and-"

If Harry wanted to encourage free love among the group, so that everyone could join together, unified across houses by the bonds of flesh and emotion, he had to know how people felt. So he'd called up everyone who had signed up and asked them about themselves, what they wanted from this.

Neville wanted Ginny, as did Dean and apparently Luna. Luna was apparently not bisexual, she was Ginnysexual. She also wanted him and Ron which was flattering. She wasn't the only one. Ginny, Colin, Cho, Susan Bones as was clear from her current monologue about what they'd do together on the Scottish mountains. Lavender also wanted Ron. Ernest was open to experimentation. Neville wanted Hannah who wanted Justin who wanted Luna. Michael wanted Cho and hated being in a room close to Ron.

It was a serious mess. He'd graphed out the romance charts of the groups, and even given the guy's general willingness to be with more than one person there was no general way to satisfy people or even have any polyamorous relationships other than a harem for himself and Ron.

"...lying in your arms we'll kiss and you'll finally be able to let go of-"

"So, is he the only one for you?" Ron interjected, looking thoroughly bored.

Susan nodded.

"Yes, and I guess I can share." She paused, and shrugged. "If I have to."

* * *

Day 5. 3.02 am. Kyle of Lochalsh

Harry, back in the present day, spoke. "The women, as a general matter, do not have high enough libidos to join our polyamory group well. It's not their fault, biology and all, but, we need some way to fix it."

"Yeah" Said Ron. "And shouldn't there be some spell to fix this? We'd be better off using magic. I know you're from a muggle family but... like, how would you feel if I told you I wanted to cure your cold by doing some weird tribal ritual like sacrificing an albino child. Do you really trust testosterone."

Harry nodded. "And I looked. Long term use of spells or potions for this tends to lead to mental illness and insanity. Use on wizards long term is rarer, but a lot of witches have found some cute muggle and kept them in a constant state of artificial obsession or lust for years on end. It very quickly leads to some very insane muggles. That's if you don't get a bad dose and it goes horribly wrong. Testosterone is the safer option, and is scientifically proven. Low doses can increase libido in women and we know it's pure. Of course, once we get them "

Ron shook his head. "I don't know. I get the use of guns- they're a great sort of surprise weapon. But do you really trust this… chemistry thing, long term? Isn't it a bit pathetic? Those muggles can't even turn lead into gold."

"A chemist with an antibiotic wades into a disease filled ward to cure the sick. A mage with their wand and an anti sickness charm and a belt full of potions flies into a disease filled ward to cure the sick. Who is better?"

Ron looked down. "The halo effect? How humans see things as better the more powerful they are. I see where you're going with this. And I guess I take your point. We can be just as brave using human medicines as we would be using magic. Being more magical, more popular, more famous, whatever, doesn't make you a better person, being a better person makes you better. And I guess science has a halo, a goodness of its own. I won't dismiss it any more, sorry."

They poked through various bottles and jars with their wand, looking for the testosterone. Harry spoke again, in a grand tone of voice.

"We're going to save humanity. We'll be the messiahs of the world. Take a historic figure. Jesus. People around him wrote a fanfiction of the old testament and gave him every power imaginable. Son of God, born of a virgin..."

Ron continued. "Power to grant miracles, drive out demons, make food. A very comfortable life. If he was starving he could summon food, if anyone messed with him he'd sic a legion of archangels on their asses. And then he voluntarily, ever so gracefully, sacrificed himself to save the entirety of humanity, and three days later got resurrected and went off to live a comfortable life of luxury. I've read more than one bad tale like that. Not quite sure where you're going with this though. My family worships Lugh and the other Celtish gods."

Harry nodded. "Wouldn't it be nobler without that? What if Yeishu of Nazareth couldn't walk on water but still defied the church of Judea and Rome, the mightiest empire in the world? Would he not deserve more honour then? What if Lugh fought the Fomarians on behalf of the Tuatha Dé Danann with no magic, just a spear and some etheogen drugs to make him berserk?"

That wasn't a sentence that Harry had ever thought he'd have to utter. Lugh was a celtic god, he fought with a spear, the Fomarians were the Celtic protogods like the titans of greek mythology, the Tuatha were Lugh's pantheon, etheogens were drugs used for religious experiences. He knew of this, he had done research. Hogwarts was a multicultural multireligion school, it was good to be prepared, even if he was more atheistic. If any of the gods did exist they were probably wizards or magical creatures or humans with lots of mythology about them. Anyway...

"We may not have some simple spell that can solve all our issues but we do what we can. We're making the world a better place, supporting more love, and we're not any worse just because we're using less magic. We're following in the footsteps of great people."

"Wasn't the Romans." Ron said with a grin.

"Sorry?" replied Harry.

"Olivander's ancestor set up coming from Rome in 382 BC. Wizards have been the dominant species on the planet a lot longer than muggles, and have had much larger and superior empires. We're just superior."

Harry frowned. "I'm really not sure about that attitude. I'd like to expand this thing outwards to muggles eventually and that racism isn't good, and their technology-"Ron interrupted Harry's increasingly rushed speech.

"Is powerful. Useful. And we're gaining a lot of power from it, and I do take your point, I was undervaluing muggle technology, and I am happy to follow in the footsteps of the real Lugh and Yeishu. Doesn't mean I'm not going to recognize facts. Found it." He held up a bottle of green pills, labelled estratest. Their testosterone supplement.

Harry frowned at him again, more deeply, then sighed and shook his head."We're talking about this later."

"I welcome more intellectual discourse. Now let's go."


	4. C4: Bayesian Judo

Day 12. 2 am, Room of Requirement, romantic liaison.

"Being with a woman like that, it's an affront of honor to the father of all! It's wrong, it would bring shame to my family."

Harry draped his arm over Ginny, listening to her passionate speech. Luna remained silent, on the other side of the rather luscious bed.

"I just want to check I understand. God dislikes such behaviour and it's immoral?"

"Yes, exactly. The mighty god was clear enough in his sagas, that such would not be appropriate for someone of my st-"

Ginny glanced at Luna. Luna was tense and tightly emotional staring at Ginny. Ginny clamped her lips shut.

Luna spoke, her voice soft and "My status? Is that what you think of me?"

Ginny bit her lip. "I..."

Harry spoke. "So if lesbianism of that sort was proven to not be immoral, then that would disprove your Odin?"

Ginny believed in the gods of the Norse pantheon- Odin, Thor, Loki, Freyja, those sorts. It was common enough among wicca sorts, and apparently fairly popular in Hogwarts. A lot of families believed in older religions. Muggle purges didn't work on wizards.

Ginny blinked.

"What?"

"Well if your religion predicts that homosexuality of that sort is immoral then, if I prove that it's moral that means your religion is false. Either your religious belief in Odin allows that women can take the so called masculine role in a lesbian relationship without it being immoral; or, if I prove it's immoral, that disproves your Norse mythology."

She paused. Harry internally grinned. She'd fallen into a logic trap of her own words.

"I didn't mean you couldn't argue or twist words in some manner to convince me. I mean, genuinely, at the heart of it, I would face spiritual consequences now and later for doing that."

Harry nodded. "I think I get it. So if I can prove you wouldn't face spiritual consequences then I disprove your religion?"

Ginny shook her head and slapped her hand to her eyes.

"Why is it so important to you that I myself kiss Luna? I followed your word, that we like the Spartans of old can gain greater power with communal love. I did what you wanted. Why do I have to take the lead? I know what the old books say and-"

"- the wells of Urd. Mystic sites of time and space, tended to by the Norns whose mastery of words of wisdom and power were taken by Odin, the allfather, who then taught the Volva much of their wisdom. The source of all wizard magic today. Supposedly. Although of course, much of this magic was feminine itself, and Odin was known to cross-"

"Not all of us have such flexible gender identities. I know what the old books say- that our magic flows from our gender and souls. If I press myself into some masculine identity what if that weakens my magic? And with Umbridge around I need all the strength I can get. No, it's not worth it."

Harry smiled and spoke. "I've been spending a lot of time with Luna. Practising magic. There's something I want her to show you. You know the tale of Raczidian?"

Ginny nodded. "Dark wizard. Invaded a village with an army of dementors, a child warded him off with his potent patronus. Raczidian sought to summon up his own Patronus but was consumed by maggots due to his evil nature."

"What if Ginny could summon a patronus, as you can now, using the memory of her taking the masculine role in a lesbian relationship? You've pressed her into it enough times. Using the magic of the norns. Surely she would face a very spiritually potent punishment for that. You believe that, right? Luna's going to be eaten up by maggots?"

Ginny paused.

"Look… Luna… you have a lot of thoughts flying through your head, don't you. Who can really tell what thought summoned it?"

Harry frowned. "You're already making excuses for what would happen if the experiment went a way you didn't want it to? You remember the litany of Tarski don't you?"

Ginny spoke, her voice on automatic. They'd done a lot of work making sure everyone was well trained with rational ideals.

"If the sky is blue, I want to believe it to be blue. If the sky is not blue I want to believe it not to be blue. If masculine lesbianism is wrong, I want to believe it's wrong…"

She paused, and grimly picked up her wand.

"That means I can't let her do this." She pointed it at Luna, her hand and voice shaking.

"That's what you wanted us to do, right? Follow verifiable beliefs?"

Harry grabbed the sheet, and in a yank, toppled Ginny over. She quickly regained her balance, swaying around, so Harry tackled her, slamming her down with his shoulder.

"You can't solve this by killing-"

"I'm not killing her you ass. Let go."

They struggled. Harry was a bit off balance, and Ginny was doing better, but he was stronger. They were for now, evenly matched, and he held her wand away from Luna.

She suddenly lunged against him, pushing her wand away to the side. Harry lunged against her, throwing his weight against the motion of her arm. Then she relaxed, letting him overpower her. Before he realized what had happened he had yanked her wand towards him.

He felt Ginny's wand poking against his chest. She spoke.

"Stupefy."

And then, all he saw was darkness.

* * *

He woke up. Ginny was pointing her wand at him and crying. Next to her bounded a silver animal, a horse. Luna's patronus, he recognized. Luna had made a hare patronus, a symbol of her flightly mind and nature in magical evil fighting spell form. After her love for Ginny had grown it had changed to that of a horse. Despite Ginny's prediction that masculine lesbianism was evil and therefore would summon maggots to consume Luna (hence why Ginny had tried to attack Luna) Luna had successfully, with a supposedly evil but happy thought of doing lesbian things to Ginny summoned up a patronus. This showed that magic did not view masculine lesbianism as immoral, so, Ginny was wrong.

It was a somewhat monumental thing to happen. It wasn't often when you directly confronted a major religious belief with magic. You couldn't just summon up Thor to confirm that he truly had a large hammer.

When someone loved another their patronus would change. That, he had hoped, would be evidence enough to alter Ginny's irrational religious beliefs that being active in her lesbian behaviour, rather than just passively doing the bare minimum, would be ok. Luna had promised to help out some of their less loved male members like the soon to be bulked up Neville if he convinced Ginny to do that.

Victory again for the side of rationality. Although he would be making Ginny pay later- she shouldn't stun him like that. What had she meant to do?

For now though, he simply served his cause.

"Ginny, you owe Luna an apology. A very special apology."

Ginny nodded. Then walked to Luna very matter of fact, and planted a kiss on her lips.

This was what victory looked like.


End file.
